Inhaltsangabe

Since Darwin's day, we've been told that sexual monogamy comes naturally to our species. Mainstream science - as well as religious and cultural institutions - has maintained that men and women evolved in families in which a man's possessions and protection were exchanged for a woman's fertility and fidelity. But this narrative is collapsing. Fewer and fewer couples are getting married, and divorce rates keep climbing as adultery and flagging libido drag down even seemingly solid marriages.

How can reality be reconciled with the accepted narrative? It can't be, according to renegade thinkers Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha. While debunking almost everything we "know" about sex, they offer a bold alternative explanation in this provocative and brilliant book.

Ryan and Jetha's central contention is that human beings evolved in egalitarian groups that shared food, child care, and, often, sexual partners. Weaving together convergent, frequently overlooked evidence from anthropology, archaeology, primatology, anatomy, and psychosexuality, the authors show how far from human nature monogamy really is. Human beings everywhere and in every era have confronted the same familiar, intimate situations in surprisingly different ways. The authors expose the ancient roots of human sexuality while pointing toward a more optimistic future illuminated by our innate capacities for love, cooperation, and generosity.

BONUS AUDIO: Includes a Preface written and read by author Christopher Ryan.

Kritikerstimmen

“Funny, witty, and light ... Sex at Dawn is a scandal in the best sense, one that will have you reading the best parts aloud and reassessing your ideas about humanity’s basic urges well after the book is done.” (Newsweek)

“Sex at Dawn is the single most important book about human sexuality since Alfred Kinsey unleashed Sexual Behavior in the Human Male on the American public in 1948.” (Dan Savage)

ok here we got a big collection of alternative views on history, science etc lots of truth and doing away with everyday make believe stuff. often not easy to mentally diguest I think thats mostly because even though the performance is professionally well done, it to my ears sounds very dry and made me often really sleepy. still good stuff though

The authors excel in reasoning their thesis, why both female and male humans are promiscuous. However, although they mention regularly their antithesis, that the vast majority of humans have been living in monogamic marriages since the invention of farming, they hardly spend a word on why we do this. Only once they have explored our fears of starving and being exploited which we try to overcome by fidelity, the authors will have prepared the grounds for the synthesis, how we can enjoy both honoring our promiscous nature while feeling secure in our modern world. I look forward to it.